A SIGNIFICANT amount of money has been recovered by Wyre Forest District Council from the cash it lost during the Icelandic banking crisis.

The authority has now recovered nearly 97 per cent of the £3 million it had deposited with Landsbanki, following the successful sale of the outstanding investment.

Council leader, Conservative councillor John Campion, said: "We are reassured at the successful sale of the Landsbanki outstanding debt and the recovery of virtually all of the council's deposit we had with that bank.

"We have worked closely with our legal team to make sure this is the right decision for the council tax payers. The banking crisis of 2008 was unprecedented and I am pleased to be able to draw a line under the council's Landsbanki investment.

"This sale is a positive result for the tax payers in Wyre Forest and is testimony to the quality of the bank the council originally invested in but was the victim of unprecedented global financial circumstances."

Wyre Forest now has £985,000 outstanding with the two remaining Icelandic bank investments - the £1 million in Heritable Bank and £5 million in Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander. The council had £9 million invested in the banks in total at the time of the country's banking collapse in 2008.

Mr Campion added: "We will continue to recover the amounts owed."